Qorin Review: Qorin is an Indonesian horror film directed by Ginanti Rona, written by Rona and Lele Laila, and stars Zulfa Maharani, Omar Daniel, Aghniny Haque, Dea Annisa, Naimma Aljufri, Putri Ayudya and Cindy Nirmala, alongside other cast members. The movie has a runtime of 109 minutes.
– Qorin Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
Qorin follows a bunch of students in an Islamic all-girls boarding school in the middle of nowhere, where summoning evil doppelgangers is probably the least of the girls’ worries. With a staff who chooses to look the other way when it comes to the abuse all around them, will the girls be able to get out alive?
Qorin is a confusing film. Directed by frequent horror director Ginanti Rona, the 2022 horror flick has a bunch of young girls stuck at an Islamic orthodox women’s boarding school wherein, it seems, the principal, Ustad Jaelani, is the end-all, be-all. Even without the horror aspects, the distribution of power in the school seems to be all over the place, and it made me wonder whether there is the school has any governing body keeping an eye on the things that are being taught there.
You’d wonder where these other teachers are during key moments – the summoning of jinns by the entire senior class could probably have been stopped had someone intervened or, you know, paid attention to what the principal is teaching its students or making them do. It’s also about the safety of the women – people just disappear all of a sudden, and everyone just shrugs it off like it’s no big deal.
Maybe that was the point of Qorin – the utter shock that there are places in the world where this might happen to women and no one would bat an eye. The real horror, thus, is the utter negligence and subservience that these women have to suffer at the hands of one single man.
Anyway, let’s now come to the horror aspects of Qorin – after the initial icky feeling that Ustad Jaelani might be sexually assaulting the young girls, we quickly delve into the horror aspects; now that everyone has a jinn doppelganger with them, things start to go haywire pretty soon and cliched jumpscares come out front and centre. The lonesome school, away from all hustle and bustle, is a great place for horror and things that go bump in the night. However, we know what’s going to happen here from the time we start watching Qorin.
This is also interesting because the film never really tells us what a qorin is – we are just expected to figure it out. Or maybe it’s enough that we know that these are evil entities, so. Thus, without much explanation, the movie isn’t really very scary, and towards the end, when the satanic stuff reaches 100, it just feels dumb. The practical horrors are terrific; Icha’s back-bending and some other stuff that the actor does are quite chilling. But apart from that, the generic horror will make you yawn.
Anyway, the movie really isn’t about the satanic stuff, though. The horrific abuse that the girls go through in the movie is quite difficult to watch. There’s a constant feeling of doom all around that there’s more to the story than the jinns. When the truth comes to the forefront around the half-time mark, it’s… quite apparent yet chilling. However, the main issue with the story, as I mentioned previously, is how unbelievable the premise is.
How is it possible that so much has happened for a number of years, yet no one batted an eye about it? How is it believable that the other teachers are so ill-equipped to handle issues in the school, and it all depends on one person, and not even the other teachers can question him? These, and many other questions, strip Qorin of the horrors that come with a heavy topic such as this.
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Qorin‘s other disservice is the fact that it portrays these women as blind sheep who are constantly crying and unable to take action in the face of horror. Other than Yolanda (Aghniny Haque), the movie gives us a bunch of people who continue to flail around even towards the fag end of the movie. At times, you’d be frustrated with protagonist Zahra (Zulfa Maharani), who doesn’t do anything to help herself or others in a dire situation.
I mean, I get it – it’s difficult to get out when you’ve been brainwashed. But after you have been intimated about the urgency of the situation, do you continue to listen to the evil forces? Similarly, Ummi Hana also doesn’t feel like a real person. When faced with a horrible truth, she just looks the other way. Thus, when she decides to do something about it finally, you don’t feel some sort of camaraderie for her. Moreover, since characters just come in and out when convenient, you lose that attachment to them since it just doesn’t make any sense.
The actors, however, do an excellent job with their subpar characters – Zulfa Maharani, Omar Daniel, Aghniny Haque, Dea Annisa, Naimma Aljufri and Putri Ayudya are great. Omar Daniel, especially, plays the role of the icky, demon-loving principal rather well and fits his character in the stereotype excellently.
Qorin Review: Final Thoughts
Although giving an important message, the film misses the mark by a mile. It doesn’t provide any heavy thrills or chills, relies too much on jumpscares, and the characters are just too docile for you to back them up. Either way, it does say something that might just stay with you – always protest when something bad is happening to you or someone around you, regardless of who is doing it. It might just save someone’s life.
Qorin is streaming on Netflix.